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Abstract

Most authors include a paraxial (small-angle) limitation in
their discussion of diffracted wave fields. This paraxial
limitation severely limits the conditions under which diffraction
behavior is adequately described. A linear systems approach to
modeling nonparaxial scalar diffraction theory is developed by
normalization of the spatial variables by the wavelength of light and
by recognition that the reciprocal variables in Fourier transform space
are the direction cosines of the propagation vectors of the resulting
angular spectrum of plane waves. It is then shown that wide-angle
scalar diffraction phenomena are shift invariant with respect to
changes in the incident angle only in direction cosine
space. Furthermore, it is the diffracted radiance (not
the intensity or the irradiance) that is shift invariant in direction
cosine space. This realization greatly extends the range of
parameters over which simple Fourier techniques can be used to make
accurate calculations concerning wide-angle diffraction
phenomena. Diffraction-grating behavior and surface-scattering
effects are two diffraction phenomena that are not limited to the
paraxial region and benefit greatly from this new
development.

References

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